# Seemingly small things that actually REALLY hurt... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 18, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267 "2017-06-18T02:52:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Majestic\_Lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Majestic\_Lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Majestic_Lee)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/41 "2017-06-18T22:13:14Z")
Cramp in the swimming pool. I have an occasional recurring one in the middle of my foot that makes me feel that it’s about to snap in two. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/42 "2017-06-18T22:15:21Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Ummmm, are we deviating from “Seemingly small things?” > > I once fractured my skull in college and spent 2 days in intensive care. Small? I don’t think so. > > (Yes. Plenty of alcohol was indeed involved, thank you. Some herbal … ah … consumption too.) Yes, as gallstones/kidney stones are pretty much universally recognized as painful, that’s a deviation. I think the point is to name things that are more painful than you think they would be. For example, it always blows my mind how much it sucks to have a really bad cold. A universal, common experience that can make you feel like death. Or the hiccups? My hiccups are really painful. I don’t know how common that is. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/43 "2017-06-18T22:17:16Z")
> [@Santelia](#): > > stepping on lego Stepping on a jack ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/44 "2017-06-18T22:35:23Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > Stepping on a jack Owwwww ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/45 "2017-06-18T23:06:40Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Never had one my self, but by all accounts kindey stones are among the most painful experiences known to man\*. > \*although maybe not women what with childbirth and all. I’ve been told by some women that kidney stones can be more painful. Knocking your elbow. I hate that – it’s not just the pain, it’s also that weird, tingly feeling. Plantars warts. I once got a nasty case when I was 17 and even after they healed, it took my like a month to break the habit of walking on the side of my foot. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/46 "2017-06-18T23:19:54Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I’ve been told by some women that kidney stones can be more painful. > > Knocking your elbow. I hate that – it’s not just the pain, it’s also that weird, tingly feeling. > > Plantars warts. I once got a nasty case when I was 17 and even after they healed, it took my like a month to break the habit of walking on the side of my foot. Childbirth can be effectively medicated. I had two hours of contractions, but my labor lasted 27 hours. There’s no way I could have had the energy push if I hadn’t had medication for most of it. Women I know who tell me they had unmedicated labors, it always turns out had relatively short labors. I know one woman who brags about her home birth and is of the opinion that women who had c-sections can’t properly bond with their children (I wish the adoptive mom who was there one time had decked her, but oh well); turns out she had a five hour labor, and pushed for 20 minutes. I’m not sure how someone gets that lucky with a first baby, but she’s in no position to lecture my friend, who was in labor for 39 hours, that an epidural is wrong, or me, who pushed for three hours, and then went to forceps, and after two different forceps attempts, had to go to a c-section when the baby’s heartrate suddenly dropped. Can’t kidney and gallstones be medicated as well? PS: my aunt had four children the regular way, and then adopted a teenager, and they bonded just fine, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/47 "2017-06-18T23:34:43Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Can’t kidney and gallstones be medicated as well? > > PS: my aunt had four children the regular way, and then adopted a teenager, and they bonded just fine, thank you. For my gallstones, they gave me morphine, and it didn’t do shit. It was a pretty gnarly case, though, I had a severe infection and had to have emergency surgery (when they opened me up, they found my gallbladder was not only infected, but shriveled and black, and, well, dead. They said parts of it had been dead for years.) The post-op pain was nothing by comparison. I’ve never given birth so I can’t compare the two. I’ve been pregnant though, and that sucks way worse than people would have you believe. > [@](#): > > I wish the adoptive mom who was there one time had decked her, but oh well I will happily serve that role once the baby comes, and thank you for reminding me how very much I never want to give birth. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/48 "2017-06-18T23:43:49Z")
Deep subcutaneous nodule acne. Holy shit, if you try to pop it or even just make the right contact with it, it angrily throbs like a deep knife wound. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/49 "2017-06-18T23:51:21Z")
Also, chronically sitting on a skinny (practically non-existent) butt, even on the most luxurious cushion. It is more than an annoyance or mild discomfort, it _really_ hurts. Sometimes wounds will even develop just because there is so little insulation or protection. And when a wound develops on a wheelchair-dependent person’s ass, relief gets quite complicated. I mean, you can’t _not_ sit on it. So eventually I developed a system for relief that actually added artificial protection to my butt. I made my own butt cheeks basically. It is quite an involved process that includes adhesive pads, copious amounts of gauze padding and hypoallergenic tape keeping it all in place. When I first started, this process took 45 minutes to complete. I’ve been doing it so long now though that it only takes me 10 minutes. But I hate it with the fire of 1000 suns. The only thing I hate more is the butt pain that it alleviates. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/50 "2017-06-19T00:32:48Z")
Scratched cornea can be pretty bad, especially in bright sun. ---
**Author:** ![I\_wasn\_t\_truly\_absent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4da419/32.png) [@I\_wasn\_t\_truly\_absent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_wasn_t_truly_absent)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/51 "2017-06-19T03:00:15Z")
trigger point therapy when they stick the needle in … I used to fear needles and it was manual pressure it’s just yelping awful. ---
**Author:** ![I\_wasn\_t\_truly\_absent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4da419/32.png) [@I\_wasn\_t\_truly\_absent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_wasn_t_truly_absent)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/52 "2017-06-19T03:09:05Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Tonsillectomy. Holy crap. There are so many nerve endings around your speech organs, and the all get irritated and swollen. And you can’t swallow. You end up drooling. And your idiot doctor give you pain PILLS, so you crush them, and take them with pudding. > > I have had two other surgeries, one was a c-section, and the other was the removal of a bone fragment from a long-ago fracture from my ankle. Neither of those was in the ballpark of pain compared to the tonsillectomy (which I had when I was 34-- and they took adenoids too, but it was my lower throat that hurt). > > For such a minor surgery, holy crap. the HORROR of looking at your post tonsillectomy throat to see them gone, that’s quite a unique sensation when you see the exudate you just want to leave urgh ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/53 "2017-06-19T03:24:06Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > “Ice cream headache” is also astonishingly painful. Solidly frozen tapioca pearls stuck to the back of your throat. Ice cream headache, where you can’t swallow the ice cream. > [@chacoguy](#): > > Breaking your tailbone. I think most of the “broken bone” examples being offered in the thread go beyond the “seemingly small thing” specified by the OP. A broken tailbone, though, seems like it should be pretty minor, because it doesn’t seem to have any distinct function. Breaking it isn’t life-threatening, and it doesn’t keep you from walking, or carrying things, or whatever. On the other hand, there’s no treatment for a broken one. There’s no practical way to immobilize it, and it somehow manages to make nearly any motion that involves more than your fingers painful. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/54 "2017-06-19T03:36:08Z")
I broke me big toe this January, and while I almost passed out from the pain, it wasn’t, like, horrific pain or anything - I’m just a fainter. I know this about myself, and I know that I have to get horizontal ASAP when I hurt myself. I think little things that are shockingly painful for me are probably slivers I get while working in the yard. They get in there so deep, and they’re so hard to dig out! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/55 "2017-06-19T13:51:19Z")
Local anaesthetic in the big toe. The injecting of it, I mean. I’ve never, ever felt anything that hurt that much, including the time I splashed molten metal on my arm. Then the podiatrist did it on the other one… ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/56 "2017-06-19T14:03:52Z")
I’d rather snap off my wrist bone twenty more times than break my tailbone. Or have a burn blister. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/57 "2017-06-19T14:50:49Z")
Years ago I wore hard contact lenses. Occasionally the wind would blow a speck of something in my eye which somehow got underneath the lens. I’d double over from the pain while tears pretty much gushed from the eye. Unfortunately the tears wouldn’t wash away the speck and I’d have to go to someplace away from the wind to remove the lens. Instant relief! ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/58 "2017-06-19T15:13:52Z")
I tore a few layers of skin off the top of my thumb, just below the nail, a few weeks ago in a freak tennis accident. An oval shaped wound with maximum diameter at maybe half an inch, at most. The initial pain isn’t what surprised me; it was how long that spot was so damn tender. A week and a half later, I was still being shocked every time I’d hit it with water in the shower or washing my hands. Damn! ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/59 "2017-06-19T19:00:31Z")
The sting your eyes feel when you’ve been swimming in a pool with too much chlorine. ---
**Author:** ![slalexan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@slalexan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slalexan)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267/60 "2017-06-19T19:17:42Z")
A couple of weeks ago, I was cuddling with my child in bed when she had the sudden urge to ram her head into my nose. And all of the sudden, I couldn’t see, I couldn’t hear, all I could experience was the pain in the middle of my face. With tears streaming down my face, I begged my daughter to go get her father. Then I gingerly walked into the bathroom, one hand up to keep any blood or whatever from getting on anything and the other out to keep me from running into anything. When I looked in the mirror, I looked… Completely normal. No blood, no bruising, nothing. All that pain and circumstance for nothing. My nose hurt like a mofo for nearly two more weeks, no doubt exasperated by the fact that I wear glasses. But nothing else was wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-small-things-that-actually-really-hurt/789267.md?page=4)